The resentment of DeJuan Blair

Tonight’s contest between the Spurs and Mavericks in Dallas won’t merely be the latest chapter in one of the NBA’s better rivalries. It also marks the eagerly-awaited premier of DeJuan Blair: The Revenge, Part I.

The former Spurs forward has sounded a steady drumbeat of animosity and vengeance since he was jettisoned last summer, ending his four-year tenure in San Antonio and forcing him to sign a one-year, minimum contract with the Mavericks.

Now that the day he mentally circled on the calendar at his introductory press conference is finally upon him, Blair apparently could barely keep the smile off his face at shootaround this morning.

Especially upon learning that fellow bigs Brandan Wright and Samuel Dalambert are both sick, which could leave him with all the minutes he can handle — provided, of course, he doesn’t foul out first.

“It’s going to be a fun game,” Blair said, as reported by the Forth Worth Star-Telegram. “It’s just something that I’ve been looking forward to, of course, and I’m going to have some fun tonight. I ain’t got nothing to prove. I’m going to just have fun, though. It’s going to be a sweet thing.”

* “(Gregg Popovich) stopped (playing) me. I couldn’t tell you what was going through that man’s head at all. Nobody knows but him. I had to leave and come here where I think they’ll give me confidence and believe in me. I didn’t think they believed in me in San Antonio, so that’s pretty good here. I feel supported.”

* “Like everybody else who doesn’t play, it’s very disappointing. But I knew I was going to a new team and somebody else was going to take advantage of the potential I had. They didn’t give me anything when I was there. I mean, the fans gave me everything. But everything else, it is what it is. I just look for us to get a win.”

Even Mavericks owner Mark Cuban got into the act, because hey, Mark Cuban.

“We already know what DeJuan is going to do to the Spurs,” he gloated. “It’s going to be a beautiful thing.”

Blair has been solid in his first year with the Mavericks, averaging 8.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 20.9 minutes to recapture some of the mojo he enjoyed during his rookie season with the Spurs in 2009-10.

It looked as if the Spurs had struck more second-round gold at that point, overlooking Blair’s unusual physical dimensions (6-7, 265 pounds) to find an elite rebounder and energetic spark plug. Some even went so far to mention him in the same breath as Charles Barkley, which sounds even more ridiculous now than it did at the time.

Hopes were that high for Blair after that initial campaign, during which he would have ranked fifth in total rebound percentage if he’d played enough minutes.

But it was only downhill from there, however gradually, as Blair’s minutes were annually rescinded in the playoffs, until they finally dried up almost completely last season. Blair, who had publicly lobbied for a trade during the previous summer, played the good soldier, drawing effusive praise from Popovich for his professionalism.

“This is a guy who’s started during regular seasons, and then I’ve sat him during playoffs,” Popovich said last spring. “I might be wrong, I might be right, but I made certain decisions, and that’s tough on a player.

“He’s been upbeat, been a good teammate with everybody whether he plays or sits. He’s practiced hard, been ready when he’s come in the game. I think as a young kid, he deserves a lot of credit for that. He’s stayed on high ground and been a real pro. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He’s really matured.”

Turns out Blair was just biting his tongue, and biding his time.

Those “certain decisions” Popovich cited were almost certainly based on the defensive end, where the Spurs played worse when Blair was on the court in each of his four seasons in San Antonio.

While that trend could finally end in Dallas — the Mavericks are allowing 0.7 points fewer per 100 possession when he plays — he remains a significant liability by some measures. Opponents are shooting 56.8 percent at the rim on shots Blair defends, 84th among 95 players who face at least four such attempts per game.

Once Tiago Splitter was finally ready to accept a starting role alongside Tim Duncan, and with high-IQ veteran Boris Diaw coming off the bench, the Spurs didn’t have a particularly tough decision letting Blair go.

But with Dallas’ rotation potentially thinned by illness, he could have every opportunity, for at least one evening, to prove that the Spurs misjudged his shortcomings.